In an old town, in a rundown home, lies and old photo of a family, their smiles brighter than the sun.
The orange mare huffed, she was lost from her group, and in the desert no less. Sure, her cousins lived out here and she'd visit them often, but she'd never actually been this far out. She trudged towards a town in the distance, hoping to Celestia that there was somepony there who could help her.
As she neared the town's entrance, she saw a dark brown stallion at the gate.
"Hey! Ahm a bit lost, can ya help me?" She called out.
The stallion instantly darted off, deeper into the ghost town.
"Wait!" She cried, following after him.
Entering the town, she could see it had been abandoned long ago. Carts laid randomly across the streets, windows were shattered, doors were left open and dust caked what the sand-winds couldn't. The stallion rounded a corner and disappeared to Celestia knows where. The orange mare huffed again in annoyance as the winds picked up. Looking up at the old building infront of her, she sighed.
"Guess I'll have tah stay here for the night."
Nudging the door open with her snout, something caught her eye under all the dust and sand. A black and white picture of a family of five, smiling happily.
Shimmer Breeze huffed as he trudged into town. The sandstorms blew wildly around him as he fought his way home. He opened the door to his home and had to force it shut again as the wind tried it's best to enter. Finally he managed to force it closed.
Shaking the sand out of his dark brown mane, he sneezed.
"Home already?" His mother asked from the kitchen. Her light brown coat almost matching the sand that blew around outside and her amber-orange eyes eyeing him questioningly.
"Yep, winds are gettin' pretty bad." He replied as he watched his mother trot out of the kitchen.
"Make sure to get all the sand out of yer coat, don't want none of that on the couch or worse, in yer bed." His mother lectured.
"Alright mum'."
However, instead of going to shower, he simply started to shake like a wet dog. Sand flew from his coat, turning it from it's light brown to a more dark brown. His hooves and muzzle were pure white as well as the tip of his ear.
His mother looked at him disapprovingly. "You'd better grab the broom, I don't want to see any sand on the carpet." She huffed before walking away.
Sweeping sand was worse than Shimmer imagined. It had already thoroughly invaded the carpet and was stuck in the many cracks of the floorboards. He huffed and gave up, choosing to lay down on the couch. It's fabric was itchy, but so were the majority of couches in town. He watched as ponies continued to move into town from their jobs in the field. Since the town was made of a majority earth ponies, there was not much they could do when it came to weather control.
The house creaked as a particularly bad gust of wind hit and Shimmer eyed the new insulation they'd put in, hoping it wouldn't crack and open like last time.
He watched the Hoof Family as they struggled to bring in great big bags of corns and wheat while the Autumns were doing their best to round up their foals.
A scream cut through Shimmer's thoughts as a pegasus came hurdling through the air, seemingly unable to land. The pegasus fought against the winds, her light green coat gradually dulling and becoming a more beige. Her darker green mane becoming messy as the winds pushed.
Without thinking, Shimmer found himself on his hooves and out the door. The sand stung his eyes as he chased after the struggling pegasus. He could just barely see her bright blue eyes watching him approach.
If there was one thing he'd learned from being raised out in the sands, it was that it was better to work with the wind than against it. Following where the wind was headed, he ran much faster. There had been times where he'd used the wind to help him plow the fields, but normally they were just too aggressive to be tamed.
"Take my hoof!" He yelled, stumbling slightly as he raised his hoof into the air.
She fumbled, still twirling in the wind, but managed to grab his hoof anyways. He slammed his back hooves into the sand and slowly but surely skidded to a halt. The moment the pegasus was on the ground, her wings slammed shut.
"Come with me!" He yelled again, his voice almost drowned out by the wind.
Thankfully, the pegasus seemingly heard as she nodded her head and moved to follow him. As they slowly made their way back to his house, he could see many ponies looking at them through the windows, no doubt in shock of what had just occurred. Sand continued to sting his eyes as the worst storm he'd ever seen continued to rage on, seemingly not going to end anytime soon.
He pushed open the door once again, letting the pegasus in before he forced it shut, both ponies collapsing on the ground.
"My... name is... Shimmer Breeze.." He croaked weakly, gasping for air in between words.
"My name is... Winter Leaf.." She tiredly replied, her hoof out for him to shake.
He weakly shook it, and they laid on the floor for what felt like hours, trying desperately to catch their breath. Shimmer's ears perked up as he heard hoofsteps stomp down the steps. He looked up to see his mother at the bottom of the steps, eyeing both of them in confusing and anger.
"What in the name of Celestia do you think yer doin', the carpets are covered in sand! Have you no idea how long it takes tah get it out?!" She yelled angerly, completely ignoring the down pegasus. Shimmer nervously laughed.
